Multiple Vehicles & A Building Were Finally Found Months After The Devastating BC Floods

Five months later, the remains from washed-away towns are still being found.

Merritt area after BC flooding. Right: Excavator removing concrete from waterway in B.C.

Merritt area after BC flooding. Right: Excavator removing concrete from waterway in B.C.

Province of British Columbia | Flickr, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
Editor

The catastrophic floods that hit B.C. in November 2021 have had many lasting impacts, some of which are ongoing today.

The government is still finding debris that the floods washed away — including a building, multiple cars and a garage.

The historic flooding was caused by extreme rainfall over the course of multiple days. The unprecedented rain and flooding caused mudslides, highway destruction and even an unlikely love story.

Entire towns in the province were evacuated, and people suffered significant damage to their properties and businesses. Multiple people also lost their lives during the severe weather events.

Almost five months since the devastating events, B.C.'s Environmental Emergency Program is still finding remains from washed-away towns.

On Friday, April 8, B.C. Spill Response tweeted about the unbelievable debris that they collected in just one week from rivers and streams around the affected areas.

"To date, more than 270 items of debris have been identified and recovery efforts are underway," said the tweet.

They then listed exactly what was found in just the last week as a result of the November floods.

From the Nicola River, they removed "multiple vehicles, a building and garage."

The Thompson River had a backhoe in it, which they removed. A building and multiple vehicles were also removed from the Coquihalla River.

Locals will likely remember that the Coquihalla Highway, which runs alongside the river, was damaged extensively due to the flooding and mudslides.

B.C. Spill Response added that on April 3 they started to remove debris from the Similkameen and Tulameen waterways, meaning that more debris that was washed away from affected towns may be found soon.

  • Editor

    Morgan Leet (she/her) is an Editor for Narcity Media Group. After graduating from Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication, she jumped into fulfilling her dream as a journalist, merging her passion for travelling with writing. She got her start working in the print media world on Canada’s East Coast, then joined Narcity with a move to B.C., leading the launch of West Coast coverage. Her focus now is managing a large group of freelance writers, bringing human-forward and opinion content to the site.

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